Self-Employed in Malta: The Fiscal Setup Nobody Explains First

Three registrations, one VAT decision and three payment dates. The VAT article you choose on day one decides how you invoice for the next year — and most people pick it backwards.

Summary Registering as self employed in Malta means three registrations, one VAT decision and three payment dates. The VAT decision is the one people get wrong. Income tax runs on progressive bands from 0% to 35% . Class 2 social security is 15% of relevant income within set minimums and maximums, paid in three instalments a year. Provisional tax falls due 30 April, 31 August and 21 December . Nobody sends a reminder that arrives before you have spent the money. Three registrations, not one Becoming a sole trader means appearing on three registers, and they do not talk to each other: 1. CFR — the tax registration that gives you an income tax position. 2. VAT — the article you register under, which decides how you invoice from day one. 3. Jobsplus — self employed status, which confirms your social security classification. Completing all three in the same week is the difference between a clean first year and a retroactive correction. The VAT decision, explained by mechanism Most confusion comes from arguing about thresholds. Thresholds move; the mechanism does not. Decide by what you need the registration to do . Article What it means Choose it when Article 11 Small undertaking registration. You do not charge VAT and cannot recover input VAT. Turnover is genuinely small, customers are consumers, and your costs carry little VAT Article 10 Standard registration. You charge VAT, file returns and recover input VAT on business costs. You have VAT bearing costs to recover, or business customers who expect a VAT invoice Article 12 Intra EU acquisitions and OSS situations. You buy cross border, or sell into other member states Malta's standard VAT rate is 18% , with reduced rates of 12%, 7%, 5% and 0% on qualifying supplies. The trap is choosing Article 11 because it looks simpler, then landing a business client who needs a VAT invoice, or spending heavily on equipment whose…